After organizing the workshop for next week-end by contacting all the healthcare workers by radio and sorting out some more details, we got a ride from a team with CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) to Rock View Lodge, our week-end getaway destination. Don, an electrical engineer, and his partner, Monica, are in the process of installing internet to a neighbouring town up the Rupununi River.
We actually had the pleasure of visiting the Rupununi River (see picture) when Uncle Vincent (as in Chinese custom, Uncle and Auntie are used deferentially) invited us to come along after work for a fishing expedition. Every few nights, Nick, the Peace Corps volunteer, and he drive to the Rupununi to try their luck at catching bass. If you wish to swim in the Rupununi, you have to stay clothed because a parasitic mite known as a chigger (no, not a racial slur) can actually burrow like a corkscrew into your skin to lay larvae – ah, our daily dose of tropical medicine trivia! Swimming is probably not the safest idea anyway since a one-eyed cayman lurks in the waters. We shall happily leave swimming for the pool at Rock View.
Nick did manage to get a tug on his line, but the hook didn’t catch. According to Vincent, an Amerindian man has to prove his worth to the family of his potential wife by demonstrating in front of them that he can indeed fish, as understandably, survival depends on this. Looks like Nick will be single for a while!
We actually had the pleasure of visiting the Rupununi River (see picture) when Uncle Vincent (as in Chinese custom, Uncle and Auntie are used deferentially) invited us to come along after work for a fishing expedition. Every few nights, Nick, the Peace Corps volunteer, and he drive to the Rupununi to try their luck at catching bass. If you wish to swim in the Rupununi, you have to stay clothed because a parasitic mite known as a chigger (no, not a racial slur) can actually burrow like a corkscrew into your skin to lay larvae – ah, our daily dose of tropical medicine trivia! Swimming is probably not the safest idea anyway since a one-eyed cayman lurks in the waters. We shall happily leave swimming for the pool at Rock View.
Nick did manage to get a tug on his line, but the hook didn’t catch. According to Vincent, an Amerindian man has to prove his worth to the family of his potential wife by demonstrating in front of them that he can indeed fish, as understandably, survival depends on this. Looks like Nick will be single for a while!
